CAST would like to welcome our Wednesday (Thursday in this case) featured artist Jackie DeVore of
Pancakes and Glue Guns! Jackie has also been kind enough to offer a truly awesome giveaway, but we'll talk about that later.
Intro: I'm
Jackie, a newly-wed, married to a law student, and recently re-located to
Williamsburg, VA.
How did you get your start on Etsy?
For our wedding I created a large
backdrop all of our large paper flowers and I detailed how I made it on my
blog. The blog got a lot of traffic from this post and with my husband's encouragement
I decided to make more paper flowers and put them in an Etsy shop. I started
making the crosses first and then birds came second and now the miniature
chalkboards are the most popular items! Now, I almost exclusively sell the
chalkboards although I still love making the paper flower crosses when I have a
chance.
Throughout all of its
transitions, my little shop has been such a blessing in my life. It has
fulfilled-and currently is fulfilling-so many different purposes! Pancakes
& Glue Guns started off as a respite because my dream job opportunity fell
through and I was having a hard time being content where I was. With the
encouragement of my husband this shop really helped me through that time.
When we moved for law
school and became a single income family, the shop supplemented our income and
allowed us to pay for textbooks, a new computer and other things before school
started.
Later we started the
international adoption process and 100% of the proceeds of the shop went
towards funding our agency fees. At this point, we've put the
adoption journey on hold and are instead focusing our efforts on family
reunification in Ethiopia through an amazing ministry
"No Ordinary Love Ministries."
The profits from the shop help to sponsor a child once a month with the goal of
providing needed support and eventually reunifying them with their family. This
May we sponsored the first child through this program and I hope to continue
doing this far into the future!
The Lord has had his hand on this
shop since the very beginning, it has been slow when I needed rest or needed to
refocus, and busy when we needed the funding. I’m excited he’s allowing me to
use these paper flowers for His glory! If you’d like to follow along with the
journey you
can do so here on the
blog.
How did you choose your shop name?
My sister-in-law actually came up
with it as we were brainstorming ideas. My husband loves, loves, LOVES pancakes
(me - not so much) and I use my trusty glue gun for everything, including
things I shouldn't. We were engaged at the time and my blog was detailing all
of our wedding planning and so the blog name of "Pancakes & Glue
Guns" was formed. I opened my shop a little while later and kept the name,
I love it.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I wake up, my husband makes
breakfast before he either goes off to class or starts studying and we eat
together and have a cup of coffee. I mentioned before that he loves pancakes -
what I didn’t mention is that he likes to create art with them. This is what an
average morning looks like (they are moose):
Then I do a morning bible study
or devotional – right now I’m working through a series on
She Reads Truth. Then I start my day-job working virtually as
a coordinator for a higher education program. This is usually about 9am-4pm I
move around in our home and sit in the living room for a few hours, my office
for another hour, my husband’s study for another little bit, but I usually end
up in my messy office. Here’s a picture of what it looked like when I first
organized it versus what it looks like now.
I'm still trying to get into the perfect
routine as working from home is new to me. I also take a break in the middle of
the day to respond to customers and organize the orders I'll work on later in
the evening and to do yoga as I sit all day and hardly ever exercise. I usually
run to the post office once a day or every other day - since we recently moved
and we don't know many people in our new area - the postal workers were my
first friends! :) Then I make dinner and then later at night I start on Etsy!
Since my husband is in law school full-time, he studies and reads late into
every evening and he often sits in my office with me while I work on the
current orders normally until about midnight every night.
And now, last but not least! Jackie has agreed to give away one Set of 5 burlap & pink mini chalkboards These chalkboards can be used for anything, desert or food labels at a party, name cards at a dinner, coffee or drink labels (decaf v. caffeinated or sweet v. unsweet tea!) To enter please go to her
shop and then come back here to comment on which item you like best. General comments won't get you entered (even though they're welcomed and appreciated.)
Please leave your email address so that we can easily contact you!
Thank you Jackie for agreeing to be interviewed! We enjoyed getting to know you!
